STRANGERS OF THE AUTUMN. 207 



that region towards Europe. Of these American 

 species we may mention the Killdeer Plover, 

 the Esquimaux Curlew, Bartram's Sandpiper, 

 the Solitary Sandpiper, the Spotted Sandpiper, 

 the Yellow-legged Sandpiper, the Red-breasted 

 Snipe, Bonaparte's Sandpiper, the Pectoral Sand- 

 piper, the American Stint, and the Buff-breasted 

 Sandpiper all as strangers of the autumn in 

 the British Islands. These birds are for the 

 most part inhabitants of the Arctic tundras of 

 the New World, speeding south in autumn 

 young and old in vast crowds crossing the seas, 

 and passing along the coasts, as well as down the 

 inland valleys and by way of the Lakes. The 

 Bermudas and the Azores, Greenland and Iceland 

 serve as stepping-stones to Europe. Whilst 

 dealing with American species, it is well here to 

 mention that the Purple Martin, the Belted King- 

 fisher, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and the American 

 Bittern are also accidental wanderers from the 

 New World to the Old in autumn. 



Birds of the Gull tribe are also great wanderers 

 in autumn. Such boreal species as Sabine's Gull, 

 Ross's Gull, the Glaucus Gull, the Iceland Gull, 

 and the Ivory Gull are all apt to wander south 

 during the autumn and winter, and stray indi- 

 viduals occasionally visit the British seas and 

 coasts. The Little Gull is a regular summer 

 migrant to the lakes of West Russia ; and it is 

 most probably stray birds from these localities 

 that wander to our coast in autumn. The most 

 interesting fact about the distribution of the Little 



